Day 306: Coast-bound again

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Ben

This morning, I found this note on the doughnut holes. Our kids need to learn to share. Or maybe I need to learn to share:

Yesterday, my PPG companion Nick suggested we head to Sand Lake on the coast to do some flying. We hitched up and said our farewells to Portland. Heading West, we stopped at the dump station we used when we lived in Hillsboro (ah, the nostalgia!) Next we stopped at Lowes, which I think occupies the former location of Griffith Polymers. How’s that for progress?

We purchased the wall sections for the already built wall frame in the kids’ bedroom. Having it cut here is a big time saver:

I’ll install these while we’re at the beach. They are white and smooth, so we’re hoping the kids can each have a dry erase wall in their room!

We drove over the coast range to Tillamook, then South a bit to Sand Lake. Were staying at the West Dunes “campground”, which is just one large paved area adjacent to the dune field which is two miles long and about a quarter mile wide, and is adjacent to the beach at the South end where we’re staying. When we arrived it was very windy, but tomorrow’s forecast looks better. Hopefully I can get in the air!

Day 305: Gardening and Skating in Portland

Posted on June 8, 2014 by Ben

Another sunny day in Portland, could this be a dream? Truth is, summers here are the dry time of the year and very pleasant, it’s been in the 70s every day so far. This morning I drove out to Sauvie Island to do some PPG flying. I had an issue with the starter, and by the time I fixed it, Nick, my flying companion, told me it was pretty rough aloft, so I decided to get in some kiting practice instead and call it a day.

Trish and the kids drove to Southeast Portland to visit her high school friend Erica and her amazing backyard garden:

Meanwhile I fabricated a sewer hose holder from a length of 5” vinyl fence post. This gets the hose out of our basement where it was in the tub at left and stinking up the place:

My childhood hangout, Skate World in Hillsboro, is going out of business after 33 years after being unable to renew their lease. I had to go skating one last time:

By the end of June, this place will be just a memory.

Day 303: Visiting OMSI, toolbox install

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Ben

This morning we went to visit OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. It was a great museum, and one of the exhibits was a pair of robot arms that could be controlled by the visitors to play a variant of connect
Four:

Here we are at an exhibit that shows the effect of gravity wells using a table with an uneven surface and funnels around the holes were the balls go:

The highlight of the visit for Tricia was getting to see the Gravitron. It has been here since 1973, and she remembered seeing it back when we lived here in the late 90s:

On our way home, we stopped at Home Depot and picked up a tool box for the bed of a pickup truck. This will allow us to carry gasoline and other things we don’t want in the RV or in the truck itself:

Good Shabbos from Portland, oregon!

Day 300: To Portland for Shavuos

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Ben

300 Days on the road! Today we drove the 240 or so miles North to Portland, Oregon, where we will be spending Shavuos with the community here:

We’re always thrilled to come back to Kesser! We will probably be here through Sunday, then continue North towards our summer goal, Alaska.

Shavuos is a two-day holiday, so our next post will be on Friday. Happy Shavuos from Portland, Oregon! See the trip map for today’s drive.

Day 299: Heading North

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Ben

This morning we drove about 30 miles North from Red Bluff to Redding, CA. Trish had hade a flag matching work for North and Central America:

In Redding, we used all 14 washing machines at the laundromat. We set a new record for the number of days since our last laundry stop, which explains why we needed so many machines:

Leaving Redding, we continued North for a few hours. Tonight we are overnighting at the Walmart of Grant’s Pass, Oregon. See the trip map for details.